5. Mi-Pi El (De Boca del Dio)

De boca del Dio (lit. ‘From God’s Mouth,’ meaning ‘From God’s Voice’)

This is perhaps the best-known piyyut for the holiday of Simhat Torah, which marks the end of the annual cycle of reading the Pentateuch and its immediate beginning, once again, from the beginning. It is celebrated in the synagogue with a festive liturgy and a series of seven processions (haqqafot) circling around the sanctuary by the congregants carrying in their arms all the Torah Scrolls found in the Ark. In the tradition of the Beit El synagogue in Jerusalem and its leader Rabbi Shalom Shar’abi (1720-1770), the seven haqqafot acquired special mystical intentions. This practice was preserved and promoted in Sephardic prayer books by Rabbi Haim Yosef David Azulay (1724-1806).

The exhaustive studies of this song by Bacher (1901-7) and Yaari (1964) maintain that it was originally intended for the festival of Shavu’ot, the celebration of the giving of the Torah at Sinai, and only later was it adapted to the celebration of Simhat Torah. Despite its enormous diffusion throughout Jewish communities and its appearance in countless printed and handwritten prayer books, the earliest versions are relatively modern. The earliest one appears in a manuscript entitled Sefer Pizmonim (Venice, 1734) in the private collection of Jacob H. Wagner of Berlin mentioned by Bacher (1901: 112). This manuscript, still not located, most probably derives from the Levantine synagogue in Venice. Undoubtedly, in this synagogue ‘Mi-pi El’ was a very well-known song, since the chazzan Moshe Hacohen, who officiated in this sanctuary in the first half of the 18th century, mentions its melody (Lahan Mi-pi El) in his manuscript collection of piyyutim and Sephardic songs dated no later than 1790 (Ms. British Library 26967, fol. 154).

Moreover, Moshe Hacohen’s successor in Venice, David Hacohen, endowed us with the first complete version of ‘Mi-pi El’ in Judeo-Spanish in his manuscript of piyyutim and songs in Ladino dated to 1794 (National Library of Israel, Ms. 8o 413, fol. 113b). This document attests for the longevity of the Judeo-Spanish versions of ‘Mi-pi El’, versions that apparently were concieved close to the original Hebrew song. Hereby is the refrain of the song in David Hacohen’s manuscript: “De boca del Dio seran bendichos todos los jidios.”

The first printed version of ‘Mi-pi El’ known so far appears in Sefer Zemirot Israel edited by Abraham Moshe in Izmir, 1766. This seems to indicate that ‘Mi-pi El’ originated in the Ottoman space not long before the early 18th century. Be as it may, ‘Mi-pi El’ does not appear in the traditional Sephardic repertoire of Simhat Torah pizmonim printed in the prayer books for the Three Festivals, but rather in special booklets of songs for this festival. Its diffusion seems to have been in the easternmost margins of the Ottoman Empire, namely Palestine, Syria and Iraq and its reception more at the level of the popular masses.

The theme of ‘Mi-pi El’ is the nobility of the Torah. Four subjects related to the Torah are mentioned in the song: (1) God (author of the Torah), (2) “Ben Amram” (i.e. Moses, who received the Torah), (3) the Torah itself, and (4) the nation of Israel (who receives the Torah from Moses). The song uses the Hebrew alphabet, providing adjectives for these four subjects. The adjectives each begin with a different letter.

There are two versions of ‘Mi-pi El’, a short one and a long one. The long version consists of twenty-two stanzas, each with four adjectives for each letter. In the short version (perhaps the original) of only six stanzas, each adjective occupies only one letter. The refrain is sung between each stanza. The Hebrew word “Ein” (“There is none”, “En” in Sephardic pronounciation) that opens each verse throughout the song is apparently inspired by a verse from Hannah’s famous prayer in 1 Samuel 2:2, “Ein qadosh k’Adonai, ki ein biltekha, v’ein tzur k’Elohenu” (There is no one holy like Adonai; for there is none besides You, and there is no Rock like our God). Printed translations of ‘Mi-pi El’ into Ladino are rare. In oral memory, only the refrain ‘De boca del Dio’ has been preserved.

The melodies that we present here are representative of the Ottoman and North African Sephardic traditions. These are two tunes of very narrow-range that hardly distinguish melodically between the refrain and the verses. They differ from the melody of ‘Mi-pi El’ most commonly known among Sephardim today, in and outside Israel. Among the most important historical musical documents we possess of the melody of ‘Mi-pi El’ is the bilingual version included in the collection ‘Schir Hakawod’ by Jacob Bauer and Isidor Löwit (Vienna, 1889). This collection reflects the synagogue tradition of Ottoman Jews residing in the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire towards the second half of the 19th century (Seroussi 1988). The space devoted to ‘Mi-pi El’ in this anthology is remarkable when compared to the space devoted to much more important pieces of the liturgy, apparently indicating the importance attributed by this community to this song in the annual cycle. As the score demonstrates, the melodic differentiation between the refrain and the stanzas is clearer than in our recordings. Also its melodic range is much broader when compared to the recorded versions we include here.

Texts

Mi-pi El, mi-pi El
Yevoraj kol Israel
De boca del Dio, de boca del Dio
Somos bendichos todos los jidíós

Non hay santo como Adonai
Y non piadoso como ben Amram
Y non hay guadrada como muestra Ley
Y no hay prenismos como Israel

Mi-pi El, mi-pi El...

 

Bibliography

Bacher, Wilhem. 1901-7. Ein hebräisches Lied zu Simchath-Torah. Mitteilungen der Gesselschaft für jüdische Volkskunde 7: 68-75; 8: 111-113; 21: 37.

Seroussi, Edwin. 1988. Schir Hakawod and the Liturgical Music Reforms in the Sephardi Community in Vienna, ca. 1881-1925: A Study of Change in Religious Music. Ph.D. diss. University of California, Los Angeles.

Yaari, Abraham. 1964. Toldot ḥag Simḥat-Torah: hishtalshelut minhagaṿ betfutzot Yisrael ledoroteihem. Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, pp. 391-403. (Hebrew)